Martha Plimpton is an American actress, singer, and model. She is the daughter of actors Keith Carradine (Keith Ian Carradine) and Shelley Plimpton, the niece of actor Robert Carradine, the half-niece of actor David Carradine, and the granddaughter of actor John Carradine.

Her father has English, Ashkenazi Jewish, Danish, German, Swiss-German, and distant Irish and Dutch, ancestry. Her mother has English, and distant Scottish, ancestry.

Martha’s paternal grandfather was John Carradine, an actor (born Richmond Reed Carradine, the son of William Reed Carradine and Genevieve Winifred Richmond). John had English, with distant Irish and Dutch, ancestry. William was the son of The Rev. Beverly Francis Carradine, who was a Methodist religious author, and of Laura Green Reid. Genevieve was the daughter of Horace Calver Richmond and Winifred/Winifrede Ryan.

Martha’s paternal grandmother was Sonia Sorel, an actress (the daughter of Henry Robert Gustav Henius and Lillian Dorothy Fuess). Henry was the son of Max Henius, a prominent biochemist, who was a Danish Jew, and of Johanne Louise Heiberg, who was of Danish background. Lillian was the daughter of Joseph Fuess, who was German, from Roentgen, Baden, and of Anna Fischer, who was of German and Swiss-German descent.

Martha’s maternal grandparents were William Sherman Plimpton (the son of William Melvin Plimpton and Annabelle Campbell) and Martha Jane Williams. Martha’s great-grandfather William was the son of William Wright Plimpton and Alice Josephine Miller. Annabelle was the daughter of Horace Guy Campbell and Laura Belle Sherman.

The surname “Carradine” is sometimes said to have an Italian or Spanish origin. Martha’s last traceable patrilineal ancestor is believed to have been a man named Parker Carradine, who was born in Georgia, in North America, c. 1755. There is no evidence that Parker had Italian or Spanish ancestry.